How does a Twisted Architrave come about?

[bobdbuilder]

Hello again everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has seen this sort of problem.

In one internal door in my house (1920s house) one of the door frame is twisted. Its not distorted into a parallelogram shape but twisted. Its as if the bottom of the door frame and one top corner of the door frame was held firm and some force was applied to the other top corner so that the door frame is no longer flat but warped? I know its due to foundation movement but then again theres no sign of cracks in the wall and were talking about brickwork here not a rubber wall.

Does anyone know what would be the best way to fix this so that I can fit a new door in which closes flat againt the door frame?

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Sounds to me like plain ol' timber movement as it's dried out over the years. Most common effects are shrinkage, bowing and cupping, but twisting & warping are in there too. Doesn't need any external forces to make it this way, does it all by itself. Actually it takes some pretty heavy forces to stop it! Will often pull out of nails, etc...

Best cure? Just replace it.

[Bondy1s]

Jeez, Bob, twisted architraves, walls out of plumb, you've bought a lemon- the real estate equivalent of an edsell. Is this what the salesmen describe as "fixer upper"?. Seriously, if it is your doorjamb that is out of wind and you want to preserve the jambs & architaves so they match the rest of the house, and assuming the house has a bit of age (jambs nailed to internal frame or if full brick, nailed to wooden plugs in the brickwork), you can simply remove one side of the architrave stiles, preferably to the out of plumb side, cut the nails with a hacksaw and plumb the jamb in wind with the other jamb, then refix. It may be prudent to pre-drill when you reattch the jamb. Be sure not to lose any packing that was used in the first place otherwise your jambs will be in wind but out of parallel. Replace the architraves using the old nail holes (you may have to re-fit the wall side of the archtraves if you have moved the jambs any considerable distance). the result should be an undetectable fix. I hope you can undestand this, it is easier to do than explain.

[Bondy1s]

Dont try to back the old nails out of your architraves, the heads are inclined to split the surface.Pull them through the wood with carpenters pincers or multigrips.